Day 9 - St. Johns to Deer Lake

We had planned to spend the full day today around St. Johns and then drive to Argentia tonight to catch the ferry back to North Sydney. Since the ferry crossing was canceled, we had to drive at least most of the way back to Port-Aux-Basques. That limited our sight-seeing in St. Johns.

We were not able to hunt any geocaches today. Because we modified our route for the day, I had not downloaded caches for the area around Harbour Grace and Heart's Content. After we were on the road, I discovered that the PDA batteries had died so we were left without much information.

The first stop was Signal Hill National Historic Site

This high ground has a commanding view of the entire area around St. Johns. In addition to its history as military position, it is also the location where Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal. We stumbled on Harbour Grace as we were driving up towards the north end of the Avalon Peninsula. What first caught our attention was a ship aground in the harbor (or harbour).

When we stopped to look at the boat, we noticed a small park with a DC-3 sitting in it. This town has a notable aeronautical history. For instance, it is the location of the airfield that Amelia Earhart used to began her flight to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in her Lockheed Vega.

The park has a larger than life bronze statue of Earhart.

Leaving the park, we went north up and across the peninsula to Heart's Content. This is the spot where the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable came ashore.

The building contains a museum covering early transatlantic telegraph service. Much of the equipment installed in the building is still in place.

After leaving the museum we started the drive back across the island to get as close as possible to the ferry terminal at Port-Aux-Basque. We ended the day at Deer Lake, northeast of Corner Brook.

Travels today - 487 miles
Cumulative mileage - 3688.02